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Voluntary dependence is the wonderful form of existence, and how could that be possible without love?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Age: 82 †
Born: 1749
Born: August 22
Died: 1832
Died: March 22
Aphorist
Art Critic
Art Theorist
Autobiographer
Botanist
Composer
Diarist
Diplomat
Jurist
Lawyer
Librarian
Librettist
Literary
Frankfurt/Main
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Goethe
goethe
johann wolfgang von goethe
joh. wolfg. von goethe
j. w. von goethe
Without
Love
Voluntary
Dependence
Wonderful
Existence
Possible
Form

More quotes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Man, be he who he may, experiences a last piece of good fortune and a last day. [Ger., Der Mensch erfahrt, er sei auch wer er mag, Ein letztes Gluck und einen letzten Tag.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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What I possess I would gladly retain. Change amuses the mind, yet scarcely profits.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The modern age has a false sense of superiority, because of the great mass of data at its disposal. But the valid criterion of distinction is rather the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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My inheritance how lordly wide and fair Time is my fair seed-field, to Time I'm heir.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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There is no greater consolation for mediocrity than that the genius is not immortal.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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He only fears men who does not know them, and he who avoids them will soon misjudge them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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To live in a great idea means to treat the impossible as though it were possible. It is just the same with a strong character and when an idea and a character meet, things arise which fill the world with wonder for thousands of years.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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So much has already been said about Shakespeare that there doesn't seem to be anything more to say yet it is the quality of the spirit that it forever stimulates the spirit.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Rejoice that you have still have a long time to live, before the thought comes to you that there is nothing more in the world to see.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A great deal may be done by severity, more by love, but most by clear discernment and impartial justice.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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There are situations in which hope and fear run together, in which they mutually destroy one another and lose themselves in dull indifference.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Nothing is more odious than the majority, for it consists of a few powerful leaders, a certain number of accommodating scoundrels and submissive weaklings, and a mass of men who trot after them without thinking, or knowing their own minds.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The Evil One has left, the evil ones remain.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The mob has nothing to lose, everything to gain.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Man usually believes, if only words he hears, That also with them goes material for thinking. [Ger., Gewohnlich glaubt der Mensch, wenn er nur Worte hort, Es musse sich dabei doch auch was denken.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe